Temporary fire crews deal with more than 50 incidents during strike

Sam Cooper

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service dealt with 54 incidents during yesterday’s 24 hour strike by firefighters.

It was the 13th time members of the Fire Brigades Union had walked out in a row over pensions.

The fire service said it received 139 calls but many were false alarms or minor incidents.

Call-outs included a fire at a golf course club house on Leeds Road in Wakefield at around 11.30pm last night and a skip fire in Castleford.

Dave Walton, Asssistant chief fire officer, said: “While we thank the majority of people for taking heed of our advice and taking extra care during this period, we are disappointed to have received eight hoax calls during the 24-hour period.

“This puts an extra strain on an already reduced resource and we would ask those responsible to think twice before taking this irresponsible action.”

The strike action took place from 9am on Thursday and there will be further industrial action on Saturday, June 21 between 10am and 5pm.